Silk finishing unit



Dec. 9, 1969 w. H. THOMAS SILK FINISHING UNIT Filed April 8, 1968 INVENTOR W/LLIE H. THOMAS 7707M 4 M' I l l I I I I J l l I I ATTORNEYS FIE--2- United States Patent Willie 5 Claims 7 ABSTRACT o THE DISCLOSURE Asmoothin'g and finishing unit for fabrics and garments combining -a finishing'"boardand 'hot head unit with a pivotally mounted puff set.

"In, th'edry cleaning art, many large and expensive machines are required to process and finish garments of difiFerentnshapes and fabrics. Because a single garment may require its various parts to be finished'or pressed on different machines, it is desirable-to combine these machines into Jasirigle unit. Not only would'an -obvious savings in cost be apparent, but operation time would be reduced, since the garment need not be transferred from one machine. to another; My invention relates to improving textile smoothing machinery of the type having fluid flow through the work. Presently, for silk finishing, at least two separate units are necessary to properly finish garments, one containing alarge finishing board or buck'forfinishing open fiat sections of material, and-another carrying small puffs for finishingclosed or curved sections such as-sleeves or shoulders;of garments-My invention combines such separate unitsiint'o a single combination unit to permit the finishing of 'a garment to be accomplished on a single unit. To switch from an operation employing the finishing board to oneuusingmpuffs, the operatorneed only actuate the withdrawal of thefinishing board which automatically raisesathe pulls. to a position accessible to the operator. Additionally, myinvention allows twodifferent sized pufis to be mounted on the same steam and vacuum supply. These and other features will become apparent from a full disclosure of my invention inthe following specification and accompanying drawing, in which: i 'FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the finishing unit with the finishing board in an access position;

l-TIG. 2 is aside elevationalview partially in section, taken along line 22 of FIG. 1, showing the finishing board withdrawn and the puffs in an access position, with phantom lines illustrating the finishingboard raised to the access position and the pufis lowered.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the finishing puffs of FIG. 2, taken in partial section.

Turning now to the drawings, and in particular to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a preferred embodiment of my combination finishing unit 10. A fiat finishing board 12 is fixed to a piston 14. The piston 14 is operated by a pneumatic ram 16 supplied by air from air lines 18a and 18b. BY controlling the air to the ram, the finishing board can be raised to an access position shown in FIG. 1, or withdrawn out of the operators way, as illustrated in FIG. 2. The ram 16 is fixed to a main frame 20 which carries the various apparatus of the finishing unit 10. Connected to the finishing board 12 in a conventional manner are steam and vacuum supply lines used in the finishing process. The steam supply and vacuum supply lines are controlled by foot treadles 21 which open valves (not shown) when depressed.

Attached to the rear of the main frame 20 is a hot head 22 which is conventionally mounted to be drawn over the finishing board 12 for finishing fabrics or garments on the board. The hot head 22 is electrically heated and, when 3,482,342 Patented Dec. 9, 1969- used with the finishing board, can also serve as a utility press.

Swingably mounted to the main frame 20 on a pivot pin 24 is a U-shaped arm 26, at the distal end of which is attached a puff unit 28. The arm 26 is of tubular crosssection to accommodate the extension of steam and vacuum lines therethrough. A drive link 32 is attached to the opposite end of the arm by a pin 30. The link 32 is connected to the finishing board 12 by pin 34 such that, when the board is lowered, the U-shaped arm 26 is forced to swing about the pivot pin 24 to the position illustrated in FIG. 2, thus placing the puff. unit 28 in a position readily accessible to the operator. When the finishingboard is raised, the arm 26 and puff unit 28 return to their outof-the-way location. Under the finishing board 12 is mounted a shield 36 for the gathering of material overhanging the board.

The distal end portion of the U-shaped arm 26, designated by the numeral 38, is circular in cross-section to permit the pufi unit 28 to swivel about an axis a, as illustrated in FIG. 3. This unique mounting arrangement enables two difr'erent sized puffs, such as a larger elongated pufl 40 and a smaller round puff 42 to be carried on the same mount. Both puffs are serviced by the same vacuum and steam lines extending through the arm 26, designated by the numerals 44 and 46, respectively. This arrangement eliminates the duplication of equipment.

The puffs 40 and 42 are mounted on a chamber defined by a split shell 48 which engages a ridge 50 on the extremity of the end portion 38 for swivel movement relative thereto about the axis a, to permit either pufi? 40 or 42 to be rotated to the top position for use by the operator. The puffs are also mounted to swivel on slider valve units 52 and 54, respectively, about an axis b. These units connect the puffs to the vacuum and steam lines 44 and 46. The latter swivel mounting is accomplished by engagement of grooves 56 in base portions, designated by the numerals 40 and 42', of the respective puffs with deformable tracks 58 fixed to the slider valve units 52 and 54. Since the swivel mounting about the axis b is identical for both puffs, the numerals designating the track and groove are the same for each puff. Selection of vacuum, steam or complete shutoff may be accomplished by movement of a three-position slider valve 60 on the end portion 38 of the U-shaped arm 26. It is to be realized that the valve systems may be remotely controlled from a console, and that the manual valves shown have been selected for simplicity of illustration. The illustrated valves are of conventional construction and, as shown, the valve units 52 and 54 correspond identically in construction. Each of the latter units comprises a pair of plates 62 and 64 having aligned apertures 66 extending therethrough and an apertured closure plate 68 slidably disposed therebetween. The latter plates are movable to selectively position the apertures therein, designated by the numeral 70, in or out of alignment with the apertures 66. Movement of the apertures 70 to the aligned condition opens the apertures 66 and, conversely, movement of the apertures 70 to a completely misaligned condition closes the apertures 66. It is here noted that only the upwardly disposed valve units 52 and 54, respectively, may be opened to the interior of the chamber defined by the shell 48. This results because the shell is closed at its lower portion and provided with a single aperture 72 at its upper portion. The latter aperture is positioned to assume aligned relationship with the apertures 66 of the upwardly disposed valve unit, while the closed lower portion of the shell 48 is located to etfect closure of the apertures 66 of the downwardly disposed valve unit.

The puffs 40 and 42 are constructed in a conventional manner, being uniformly porous to permit internally delivered pressurized steam or vacuum to smooth and finish the fabric placed against the outer surface of the puffs.

It is'apparent from the above disclosure that many modifications and changes may be made to the preferred embodiment disclosed without departing from the scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for smoothing and finishing fabrics, com: prising:

(a) a support chassis;

(b) a finishing board;

(c) first means mounting said finishing board on said chassis for selective movement between a working position readily accessible to an operator normally positioned before said apparatus and a non-working position removed froman operator normally positioned before said apparatus;

(d) a hot head mounted on said chassis for operative cooperation with said finishing board when in'the working position; i

(e) a finishing puff;

(f) second means mounting said puiion said chassis for movement between a working position readily accessible to an operator normally positioned before said apparatus and a non-working position removed from an operator normally positioned before said ap- V paratus;

(g) third means operatively associated with said first and second means to coordinate movement of the head and puif mounted thereby so that movement of said'board between the working and non-working positions eifects converse movement of said puff, respectively, between the non-working and working positions.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the respective working positions of said board and puff correspond, substantially, relative to an operator normally positioned before said apparatus.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

-(a) said first means comprises a selectively extensible and retractable lift mounted on said chassis and supporting said finishing board;

(b) movement of the board to the working position is effected by extending said lift to raise the board;

(c) movement of the board to the non-working position is effected by retracting said lift to lower the board;

(d) said second means comprises an arm secured in supporting relationship to said puff and pivotally mounted on said chassis; and

(c) said third means comprises linkage means connected between said board and arm to elfect pivotal movement of said arm responsive to raising and lowering of said board.

prising:

4; Apparatus for smoothing and finishing fabrics, com- (a) a support chassis;

(b) a finishing board; a

(c) first means mounting'said finishing board on said chassis for selective movement between a working position readily accessible to an operator normally positioned before saidapparatus and a non-working position removed from an operator. normally positioned before said apparatus;

(d) a hot head mounted on said .chassis for operative cooperation with said finishing board when-inthe working position;

(e) a finishing puff unit having:

(1) two separate and oppositely disposed puffs; (2) a connectingelement onwhich each; puff, is

mounted for pivotal movement relativethere-i to; and, 1 r t (3) support means pivotally mounting said cOnnecting element 'sdth'at 'either puff may, alternately, be placed in an accessible operating posi- (4) supply means for delivering atsteamhaction and a vacuum action to each ofsaid twopuff from acommon supply; and,

(5 control means for selecting the putt and the action to be supplied from said common supply..

(f) second means mounting said pufhunit on said chassis for movement between a working position readily accessible to-an operator, normally positioned before said apparatus and a non-working position removed from an operator normally positioned before said apparatus; 1

(g) third means operatively associated with said first and second means to coordinate movement ofthe head and puff unit mounted thereby so that movement of said board between the working and nonworking positions eifects converse movement of said puff unit, respectively, between the non-working and working positions. t w t 5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said connecting element and said support means in the puff unitare of hollow construction and comprise the means for delivering steam and vacuum to each of said puffs from a common supply.

References Cited PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner 

